Sequels and franchises have become a dominant force in the global film industry, and the Indian film industry is no exception. With audiences increasingly drawn to familiar universes and stories that continue across multiple films, this trend is expected to continue well into 2025.
Actor Prithviraj Sukumaran, who is gearing up for the release of his much-anticipated directorial venture L2: Empuraan, a sequel to his 2019 hit Lucifer, headlined by actor Mohanlal, recently shared his thoughts on this rising trend and the business rationale behind it.
Sukumaran tells us that the growing success of sequels is driven largely by business considerations. “The trend is popular because it makes business sense — that’s actually the truth of it,” he acknowledges. He elaborates, pointing out that when a director creates a successful film, the sequel or follow-up naturally generates heightened interest, often due to its connection to a previously successful universe. “Let’s say, a director makes a film, and that film is a huge success. If you make your next film and you say it belongs to that universe or it’s a continuation of that particular story, immediately the interest spikes,” he explains. “Even the streaming platforms think, ‘Oh, we need to have that film because it’s from the same series’…so, all of it makes business sense.”
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However, Sukumaran also emphasises that while commercial motives undeniably play a role, they should not be the driving force behind creating a franchise. He believes that sequels should only be pursued if the story naturally warrants it. “But ideally, that (the business aspect) shouldn’t be the driving force behind doing this. It should be that your story needs to be told across so many films or your story needs that kind of runtime to be completed.”
Reflecting on the rise of the sequels, Sukumaran traces its popularisation back to SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali: The Beginning (2015), a film that, in his view, set a standard for what a successful two-part story should be. “If you go back to the beginning of the trend— which, I’m sure there were other films before that, but I think the trend became popular from Baahubali — you realise that was a very honest part one and part two. You realise that the story really needed two films to be completed, so that should be the driving force. You should be doing a part two or part three only because you have a story that needs two or three films to be told.”
Sukumaran is confident that the story of L2: Empuraan is worthy of a three-part narrative arc. He contrasts the sequel with its predecessor, Lucifer (2019), explaining that the first film was structured in a way that it could stand on its own even if a second part never materialised. “I believe this is a story that deserves three films, and unlike part one, where we finished the film at a point, where we knew that even if part two doesn’t happen history will still look at Lucifer part one as a standalone film, and it’ll still be a complete tale,” he says. “But we’re taking a chance with part two because at the end of part two, I think the audience will walk out of the theatre thinking, ‘Well, now, to understand the rest of the story, we will have to see part three.’”
When asked if the increasing consumption of long-form content on OTT platforms has influenced audiences to seek deeper dives into characters and narratives even in films, and if that is why more films are being turned into franchises and sequels, Sukumaran rejects the notion of equating long-form storytelling for streaming services with the theatrical format. “No, I don’t think you can mix the two. Basically, streaming services and theatres serve two completely different forms of viewer engagement,” he asserts.
He says the theatrical experience is about communal engagement — audiences experiencing the story together, where shared moments such as laughter or applause enrich the experience. “Theatres are for you to walk into a big hall with 500 people, switch off the lights in complete darkness, preferably switch off your mobile phones, and only have communication with the screen — nothing else,” Sukumaran explains, adding, “And the wonderful facet about community viewing is that the community becomes part of your experience. If there’s a clap-worthy moment, 500 people are clapping with you. If you’re laughing, 500 people are laughing with you.”
On the other hand, streaming services offer a much more personal and flexible experience, allowing viewers to pause, resume, or even re-watch content on their own terms. “In streaming services, it’s a very personal equation. It’s between the screen and that single viewer, and it also gives you the liberty of pausing, taking a phone call, switching off, watching the rest of it the next day,” Sukumaran says.
“Feature films that release theatrically and content that’s made for streaming services are completely two different formats of entertainment. The crafts remain the same in terms of filmmaking, cinematography, and all that, but the way you envision it, the way you write it, and the way you serve it are completely different between the two,” he signs off.